A new Build To Rent scheme being launched shortly in Greenwich offers tenants an on-site...

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Chancellor George Osborne has “effectively declared war on individual landlords” according to the Residential Landlords’ Association - but don’t expect a change in government policy any time soon.

RLA policy director David Smith, in a New Year message to landlords, warns that in addition to the well-publicised “attacks” on the private rental sector - including stamp duty surcharge and restrictions on mortgage interest tax relief - the industry should also remember that Capital Gains Tax changes may be in the pipeline, and Right To Rent implementation begins on February 1.

“There’s a new Housing Bill in Parliament, your insurance will not be covered by the domestic FloodRe scheme and if you have benefit tenants, Universal Credit has a wealth warning for you too” he tells landlords. Meanwhile he warns that in Wales, a new registration and licensing scheme “will prove to be a bureaucratic bowl of spaghetti.”

But Smith warns that despite widespread criticism from within the industry, these measures are highly unlikely to be reversed by the government.

“Politics doesn’t work like that. Discussion, argument, negotiation, amendment are the processes which in the end produce reasonable agreement” he concludes.